Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: nino niederreiter

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League club has agreed to terms with RW Nino Niederreiter on a three-year contract.

Niederreiter, 22 (9/8/92), recorded 36 points (14-22=36), a plus-12 rating and 44 penalty minutes (PIM) in 81 regular season games during his first season with Minnesota in 2013-14. He established career highs in every statistical category and ranked second on the team in hits (175), tied for third in goals, fourth in plus-minus rating and fifth in shots. The 6-foot-2, 209-pound native of Chur, Switzerland, added six points (3-3=6) and led the team with 40 hits in 13 playoff games. Niederreiter tallied the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 7 at Colorado on April 30 to become the third player in NHL history to register his first two playoff goals in a Game 7 and the second youngest player in Stanley Cup Playoff history to record an overtime goal in Game 7. He also netted the game-winning goal in Game 4 vs. Chicago on May 9. Niederreiter skated in four games with Switzerland at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

What a victory. The Wild never led til that final Niederreiter shot, it overcame a goal that probably should have been wiped out to open the game when Jamie McGinn was on top of Darcy Kuemper, it overcame a rollercoaster of emotions all game long. And it controlled play most the game. The Avs went through long stretches without chances, but as we have learned all series, it doesn’t take much for Colorado to bury one.

“I’m incredibly proud of our guys right now,” Yeo said. “This game in a lot of ways reflected the series, just continually having to battle, and battle back and deal with adversity and keep pushing forward. Obviously very proud.”

Yesterday, Hockey’s Future named Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Strome to the top of the NY Islanders prospect list. Nino and Strome are very talented forward prospects and, barring some unforeseen circumstance, will be bright spots among the other young, talented forwards on the Islanders for many, many years to come. As stated many times on this blog, I fully expect Nino to make the team out of training camp. I expect Strome to be with the Islanders full-time at the start of the 2012-2013 season.

With rookie camp beginning September 10th and full team practices beginning on September 17th, TII looks at five questions for the Islanders heading into training camp.

1. What will happen with the Josh Bailey contract negotiations?
Bailey and the Isles really need to come to an agreement before training camp begins or it could start getting ugly. Owner Charles Wang will stick to his strategy that no player will be on the team during the season if they are not signed before training camp. One sticking point in contract negotiations may be the length of the deal. The Islanders have a lot of good centers on their team and have a lot of good center prospects in their system. While Bailey is still very young at 21, he needs to begin producing in line with being the 9th overall draft pick or the Isles may be forced to go in a different direction. There has been a lot of trade speculation about Bailey and I think the Isles may still be looking to add a veteran defenseman before the season starts. If the Isles are committed to Bailey, they need to sign him in the very near future or things could get ugly. I think the team and Bailey will come to an agreement soon, but it is not as much of a guarantee as once thought.

Nino Niederreiter, an 18 year old winger with unlimited potential hopes to play full-time this year for the NY Islanders after spending 2 seasons with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. Drafted 5th overall in the 2010 entry draft, he was the highest Swiss player ever taken in the NHL entry draft and only the fourth Swiss player to ever be drafted in the first round.

Niederreiter is just another young budding star for the Islanders. After leading the Winterhawks in goals with 36 in his rookie season, he scored 70 points in 55 games-41G and 29A last season. Nino was called up last October, mainly because of injuries to some key Islanders, and appeared in only nine games. In those nine games, Niederreiter recorded 2 points-1 goal and 1 assist.

Well that time of year has arrived again!
No, not Santa Claus bringing home the goods.
No, this is better, well at least for one international hockey team that can wrest World Junior Hockey Gold from its opponents.
I’d love to hear any predictions on who will win gold.
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season with their loved ones!

The alternative to the standard game recap became a staple of my Tampa Bay Lightning coverage last season and it was only a matter of time before it made its season debut here.

Sure, the title of the regular feature has now been copied by a second-rate Bolts blog as of this morning but the content can’t hold a candle to the original and, hell, you’re here with me and they’re, well… They’re sleeping, I’m sure, on Pacific Time and what not… (Lightning coverage from California? Now that’s insight!)